Intimacy Direction Conversation in South Florida Theatre Magazine

Last week, Luis Roberto Herrera, Gaby Tortoledo, and I sat down for a conversation about what intimacy direction is, and how it can support actors for South Florida Theater Magazine. You can check out the whole piece here. Hopefully, this is the start of a larger conversation with the community!

Bad Behavior in Theatre Communities

Shows with nudity, intimacy, and/or hyper-exposure require extreme vulnerability from actors. We have consistently seen actors in our community provide incredible performances in relevant, nuanced shows, in these states of vulnerability.

Sadly, they often get reduced to their bodies' appearance, rather than their skills in transporting us into a story. Also, how ridiculous that that those of us who are professionals in the crafts of theatre-making are doing this. We have the best opportunity to discuss technique, skill, character, and story, but we go for looks?!

Safety in theatre or in film doesn't just include creating a safer space for work to be done. It also means respecting the work AS WORK and our colleagues (and even when we are audiences, we are still colleagues) AS COWORKERS. Exploitation and harassment have no place in a workplace.

As a community we should be disappointed and horrified when exploitation and harassment happen, and are not met with resistance or the desire for change. We absolutely should less safe when one of us not safe.

This is not about 1 person or 1 incident. This about bad behavior.

No matter who is committing the exploitation or harassment, no matter who is receiving it: it is exploitation or harassment.

Carbonell Nomination

Thank you the Carbonell judges and the South Florida theatre community for the nomination of Outstanding Achievement of an Artistic Speciality. And deep gratitude for the Theatre Lab team for putting the Intimacy Choreography for To Fall in Love forward for consideration, Lou Tyrrell for being an incredible collaborator, and Matt Stabile and Niki Fridh for being the beautiful, brilliant performers they are.

See all the nominees here.

Just like with the Silver Palm post below, I want to take this opportunity to point out that “Intimacy Direction supports good story-telling!” Because, honestly, being a part of a team that helped support these performances, is what the work is.

I was the Intimacy Director for 2 of the 6 of the nominees for Outstanding Production of a Play- GringoLandia and One in Two. These same two productions also appear in the Director category, and Stuart and Delicia were certainly outstanding to work with! UPDATE: Delicia won!

1/2 of the actors nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Lead Male Role in a Play performed Intimacy Choreography- Tom in I Hate Hamlet and Nathaniel and Randall in One in Two. UPDATE: Tom won!

Two of the Lead Actress nominees performed Intimacy Choreography- Natalie Cordone in I Hate Hamlet and Lindsey Corey in Overactive Letdown. UPDATE: Natalie won!

GringoLandia and Overactive Letdown appear multiple times in the Supporting Actor and Actress categories. I Hate Hamlet and Overactive Letdown also gathered noms in technical categories.

Seeing productions and actors get noticed for doing work that some might consider “too choreographed”, “inauthentic”, or some of the countless other criticisms lobbed at this work is my reward. Intimacy Choreography, Intimacy Direction, make excellent art! If I get to give a speech, I shall shout this!

See the full list of nominees in the Broadway World Press Release here, and the explanation of changes here.

How does an Intimacy Director Help Actors?

Earlier in September, I had a post about How an Intimacy Coordinator Helps Actors. And really, it’s basically the same for an Intimacy Director working in theatre, instead of in film. You can check that out here, or the previous post, What Does an Intimacy Director Do? for more.

There are a couple of differences:

• An Intimacy Director will review performance reports for anything that has gone off or any needs the productions have. I’ve had a scene need to be looked at again, because a costume piece had changed. If I hadn’t read the report, I wouldn’t have know about the change, and asked how it affected the intimacy.

• An Intimacy Director will create separate choreography for understudies that fit their boundaries. An Intimacy Director will also create a “Plan B” or “Health Option” for all contact-kisses that removes soft tissue contact, in case an actor isn’t feeling well. Whether it’s a cold, a cold sore, or COVID, folks shouldn’t being kissing while not feeling well. We’ll provide excellent choreographic options that keep everyone safe, and the story-intact.

• Since many Intimacy Directors are local to the theatre company where they are working, an Intimacy Director will help promote your show! More butts in seats are better for all of us!

Intimacy Professional Office Hours

I’m holding two events for folks in South Florida Theatre and South Florida Film to be able to speak to an Intimacy Professional. This time is meant to discuss how an ID/IC can support a production, whether you are an actor, crew member, critic, or administrator.

Register over on the Events page for the one that you are interested in, or drop your question in the form, and I will answer it during our time together.

We are meeting virtually so folks from across the region can attend, and that folks who can’t attend can still get answers through the recording.

See you there!

Congratulations, Chris Molina!

I was really excited to see this week that Chris Molina was named Miami New Times Best Director for 2022!

Part of the win is because of Chris’s beautiful film, The Truth of a Thousand Nights, which I was honored to be the Intimacy Coordinator on. The Truth of a Thousand Nights also picked up a Grand Prize at the Miami Film Fest earlier this year.

But the other reason Chris won is because he is literally changing the face of Miami as a film town. In the past year Chris has created not 1, but 2 film festivals for Miami.

Chris is an incredible collaborator, and his work shows that. He is someone who knows that we are better together, and that when we build community and celebrate each other’s work, we all benefit. Chris is making the Miami film scene a better place to work, and I’m glad to know him!